The story opens as the handsome, young doctor, Fermin, arrives on the beautiful but eerie island of Lanzarote. In some ways the island is a paradise. In other ways, as Fermin points out during his first tour of the volcanic lava fields, it can also appear to be hell.

One morning, as Fermin stands on the roof of his home he spies a lovely young girl hurrying into the kitchen. He races down the stairs and encounters the gorgeous Mararia, who happens to be his housekeeper's ward. Fermin is a fairly straitlaced, conventional sort with a high opinion of himself. He downplays his feelings until he can get a sense of Mararia's worthiness of his attentions.

After Fermin stitches up the knife wounds in his first patient, a rejected suitor of Mararia, she confides to him that she has no interest in the local boys. She is saving herself for a man who will be able to take her away "to the big island" -- or perhaps even farther.

For a time, it looks as though the romance between Fermin and Mararia is inevitable. But a triangle develops when a dashing British geologist arrives on the island and becomes Fermin's house guest and romantic rival.

The story is fleshed out with a wonderful array of supporting characters. Fermin's housekeeper (and Mararia's guardian) happens to be a skilled practitioner of witchcraft, voodoo, and the healing arts. She is a pleasant enough woman, utterly devoted to her surrogate daughter. There also is the island's "town drunk" with whom the other characters, who should know better, always entrust some seemingly small yet pivotal duty.

Mararia is a dark, gripping story that should hold the viewers attention.